President Barack Obama stands with Janet Yellen, vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013, where he announce he is nominating Yellen to be chair of the Federal Reserve, replacing Ben Bernanke. (AP)

Maybe a breakthrough this week, maybe not, on shutdown pain, default fever and Washington’s wild dance on the razor’s edge. This country has seen politics of a strange order. Now the talk is of a six-week time-out to negotiate. But it’s still not clear exactly how and if that will happen. Republicans, looking at devastating public opinion polls on their role. The White House, unmoved and dangerously close to economic crisis. Now we’ll see. We’ve got Nobel prizes, US terror raids, Janet Yellen – first woman to helm the Fed. Up next On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

From Tom’s Reading List

National Journal: That Was Then, This Is Now — “To the degree that Obamacare is still part of the GOP’s ad hoc and ever-shifting shutdown strategy, it is prospective—seeking to siphon funds needed to implement the law, repeal it altogether, or equalize exemptions or waivers granted by the Obama administration to employers, unions, and other pleaders. It is a fight against the semi-known and largely feared. And it lacks a full-blown GOP alternative.”

BloombergBusinessweek: Obama Loses Face and Possibly Ground in Asia — “The reality is that Obama could have stayed on top of the congressional standoff and put in a brief but potent appearance at APEC. After making it clear Friday that he wasn’t going to ‘negotiate with a gun held to the head of the American people,’ the president could have immediately boarded Air Force One for a 21-hour flight to Indonesia, stepped off for a few hours to meet key leaders and address the world, then head home to be in Washington by Monday. What better way to prove that the country’s long-term fortunes can’t be subjected to what he considers to be Republican roulette?”